Saturday saw 17 boats out on the water with visitors from NSW and interstate joining the locals for race one of the regatta, a Basin Chase.

This was also the last race of the club series. 

The committee boat (Phil and Marie), with their usual professionalism, had the scratch start away on time at 1pm with the fleet working their way from Kangaroo Point back towards Sussex in a fresh S-SW breeze. 

Rounding the first mark saw the start of the off wind fight between the bigger boats, Southern Cross (Greg, Lynne and Captain Billy), Pass the Port (Paul, Lynne, Graham and Rhonda), Lowana, (Silver, Ken, and Gary) with the pocket rocket Tonka (Craig and Gordon) also in the mix.

The kite run down to Erowal Bay saw a few interesting spinnaker sets and one spectacular broach from the crew on Backchat (Steve, Jan and Mark). 

All crew remained intact and on-board but it has been confirmed that the bottom of the boat is nice and clean.

Coming out of Erowal Bay, Pizzicato (Cliffy and crew) decided to use their manual depth sounder (or keel as we call it) to find out how shallow it gets near the cardinal mark. 

With no major damage except to possibly some pride, they managed to back track and re-join the race a few places down.

In the battle of the Timpennys, Fly Navy Too (Greg and Rhonda) led the charge with some good competition from Two Up (Paul and Lynne), and a good showing from the girls (Robyn and Liz) on the Cheeky Chick.  

Serendipity (Dick and Tim) rounded out the Timpenny Regatta entries. 

A shifting westerly component to the wind saw a number of position changes as the boats fought their way to the finish. 

Proving size is not everything, line honours went to the smallest boat in the fleet with Tonka just beating Lowana over the line by 11 seconds, closely followed by Southern Cross.

Well done to all the other visiting boats, Mischief, Wayfarrer, ’Ting Around, Silent Mistress, and Grey Fox.

The club hopes you enjoyed your time on the Basin and hopes to see you back again sometime soon.

Race two of the regatta on Sunday was an inside triangle course, starting at 11am in much lighter air than Saturday. 

Once again Phil was on duty on the committee boat this time assisted by Cliffy. Eleven boats started this race, with only one boat brave enough to try a port start. 

Once again Tonka (today with Craig and Mel on board) was fighting for the lead, this time against Southern Cross. 

With the Cross revelling in the light conditions and being able to use all of their sail area, they managed to stay ahead for a well-deserved line honours win.

The Timpenny battle continued with Fly Navy Too managing to keep ahead of the pack, while Two Up was involved in its own battle with ’Ting Around (Andrew and crew). 

Some tight tussles further back had some close finishes, but with the wind still fairly light and the barbecue calling, it was decided to shorten the course one lap early to give all boats a chance to finish and get back for the presentation and the delicious food prepared by the fantastic onshore support crew.

The weekend was rounded out back on shore at John and Joan’s with a fantastic barbecue spread. 

With the regatta’s major sponsor, Bendigo Bank, providing some generous prizes, there were big smiles all round. 

Sharing the points for first were Fly Navy Too (Greg and Rhonda) and Tonka (Gordon, Craig and Mel), with Tonka taking out first place on a countback. 

Fly Navy were not too disappointed as they retained the Timpenny Shield as the best placed Timpenny. 

Second in the Timps was Two Up, with Cheeky Chick and Serendipity sharing third. Full results will be posted on the website www.SIBYC.com.au.

The club thanked all the volunteers who made this event possible; Marie, Hilma and Joan on shore, Phil on the committee boat, Greg and Rhonda for the organisation. 

The club hopes to see you all back for the Basin Classic on April 12.